1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the temporary storage of recording media, magnetic tape cassettes and "compact" optical information storage discs for example, and particularly to the provision of a visual indication of the presence or absence of such recording media in storage apparatus. More specifically, this invention is directed to storage systems for recording media and especially to such systems wherein a visually observable indicator is associated with each of a plurality of media holders which are moveably accommodated within a container for translation between media storage and media removal positions. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus of such characters.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Recording media storage systems which accommodate a plurality of media holders within a housing are known in the art. The media holders of the known storage systems are individually displaceable between a storage position, wherein the media is located within the housing, and an ejected position wherein the holders are displaced toward the front of the housing to a position in which the recording media disposed thereon can be easily grasped and removed for use. It is obviously desirable to provide such storage systems with an indicator or indicators which convey the status, i.e., loaded or unloaded, of the individual media holders
Published German Patent Application Serial No. P 32 15 721 discloses a storage system for magnetic tape cassettes wherein a visual indication of whether a slider member arranged in a housing is occupied or unoccupied is provided by means of a displaceable or pivotal colored element, the colored element being brought into registration with an indicator window so as to be visible from the outside of the housing as a result of the insertion of a cassette into the slider member. A principle disadvantage of the arrangement of this published German application resides in the fact that the indication, i.e., the slider member status signal, is not visible under poor lighting conditions. Tape cassette storage systems are frequently installed in motor vehicles and it is obviously undesirable for a driver to have to be distracted by the need to search, for example, for an unoccupied slider member.